


A Rover and a Tent

by TheScottRyder



Series: Coryder Collection [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, F/M, Fluff and Humor, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 18:52:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11087808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheScottRyder/pseuds/TheScottRyder
Summary: 30-Day OTP Challenge for Scott and Cora~Prompts and rating will be listed in each individual chapter.





	1. Getting lost somewhere.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: '1. Getting lost somewhere.'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning: None.

~~~~~.~~~~~

“Stop me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we passed this place already?” Scott asks as he hops out of the Nomad and stares up at the snowy rock formation in front of him, which he had honestly only remembered because it was roughly shaped like a floating hanar , and a moment later he hears Cora climbing out of the vehicle behind him.

“Well, good news is you’re not wrong,” Cora replies, shivering a little as the wind starts to pick up around them. “Bad news is we’ve definitely been here before, which means we’re driving in circles.”

"You sure we've been here before? Maybe some of these formations just look alike."

"Scott, you're literally standing on our tracks from earlier," Cora informs him, and they both look down at the familiar tire indentations beneath Scott's feet.

“Ahh. Well, crap..” Scott mutters, looking around the area but with the storm starting to pick up speed all he can see is falling snowflakes and the silhouettes of mountains in the distance. “SAM, got anything useful?”

“We are still within a five-mile vicinity of the compound, Pathfinder,” SAM replies, “However, the incoming storm is interfering with my instruments. At the moment, I cannot track a direct path, or pinpoint our precise location.”

“It’d be easier to just say we’re lost, SAM.” Scott mutters, turning back towards the nomad as Cora does the same.

“We are lost, Pathfinder.”

Cora snickers beside him, and yeah, maybe he asked for that one, but Scott tries not to roll his eyes as he closes the overhead hatch, starting the nomad up again. “We’re gonna have to have another talk about responding to sarcasm, buddy.”

Another half-hour of driving somehow brings them back to the hanar rock, and by this time Scott wants to bang his head on the dashboard. Instead he just slumps back in his seat, brushing his hands over his face.

“How does this keep happening?!” he asks no one in particular, though Cora and SAM are the only ones with him right now. “I’m not even making that many turns!”

“It could probably be worse,” Cora replies, smiling when Scott turns his head to look at her, “At least we dropped Drack off at the compound before we made the delivery to the outpost, so we're not dealing with the storm _and_ a grouchy krogan."

“True, but we were just dropping some supply packs off, that should’ve taken us an hour tops. He’s probably wondering where the hell we are and getting everyone in the Tempest in a panic.” Scott muses aloud. Cora just gives him a pointed look and he scoffs. “Yeah, you're right, he probably went to sleep already.”

“SAM, have you picked up anywhere we could take shelter?” Cora asks, and the AI’s node on the dashboard lights up.

“Yes, lieutenant Harper. There is a cave roughly two hundred feet ahead that would provide adequate shelter until the storm passes,” SAM replies, and Scott exchanges a look with Cora before he shrugs and starts driving again. He can barely see more than a yard ahead of them, but he knows that the Tempest couldn't extract them in this weather, plus it would definitely beat waking up in a snow drift.

The cave is smaller than Scott had expected but it’s thankfully empty and there’s still more than enough room to park. The temperature doesn’t improve by much but they’re out of the storm, and its warm enough for now in the nomad.

“Cozy,” Scott remarks, leaning back into his seat with a soft sigh as he listens to the wind howl outside the mouth of the dark cave. “SAM, any guesses on how long this’ll take to clear out?”

“At its current speed, the bulk of the storm will likely move on within a few hours, enough to make it back to the compound or rendezvous with the Tempest.”

“Got’cha. Keep me posted if anything changes, SAM, and keep trying to contact Drack if you can get a signal out,” Scott orders before turning towards Cora and nodding towards the back seats. “It’s probably more comfortable back there.”

“Not by much,” Cora replies, but follows after him as Scott ducks down and moves himself to the back seat. Like Cora said, it wasn’t much more comfortable but the seats don’t have an armrest between them, and after a moment of adjusting they manage to find a comfortable enough position, with Scott tucked into the corner while Cora laid out on top of him.

“I guess this isn’t terrible,” Cora remarks after a moment, and Scott’s a little relived that he’d worn a sleek set of armor today, otherwise this would be much more uncomfortable for the both of them. “Not great, but not terrible.”

“Okay then, next time I get us lost, I’ll make sure it’s somewhere warm so we can camp outside,” Scott promises, and he smiles to himself when Cora raises her head to press a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw.

“You could also just not get lost, _Pathfinder_.”

“Oh yeah? You wanna drive next time?”

“If it keeps us out of a cave and a snowstorm, then sure.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Scott threatens playfully, letting out a content hum as Cora moves to nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck. Her nose is cold and he’d probably wake up with a kink in his back but he didn’t have the energy to move right now, and he doubts that he would even if he could.

~~~~~.~~~~~

 

 


	2. Pet names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '2. Pet names.'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning: None.

  
~~~~~.~~~~~

“So why does she call you that?” Peebee asks one afternoon as they’re putting their weapons and armor away for the evening, and Scott pauses halfway through dismantling his chest piece to give her a confused stare. She frowns before continuing. “All that ‘sweetheart’ and ‘darling’ crap.”

“Uh.. Because she’s my girlfriend?” Scott offers uncertainly, still looking like he didn’t entirely understand the question she’s asking, and Peebee rolls her eyes with a sigh.

“I mean why does she _have to_ ,” Peebee replies, stressing the words to clarify the point she was trying to make. “I just never got the appeal of those cutesy little pet names people use. It’s like, ‘we get it, you’re together’!”

Scott blinks at her before his expression suddenly goes from confused to amused.

“Oh, trust me Peebee,” he starts, giving her a grin that would’ve had anyone but Peebee rightfully worried. “You should hear some of the other pet names humans have come up with. Ours could be _way_ worse.”

“I doubt that,” Peebee scoffs, and in hind sight she wishes she could’ve gone back in time and stopped herself from challenging Scott Ryder in such a way.

But she forgets about the conversation shortly afterwards, and only remembers later than evening when she’s lounging in one of the beds in the crew quarters (because hey, it’s more comfortable in here than it is in the escape pod).

Jaal’s sitting in one of the armchairs nearby, reading through one of the novels he’d borrowed from Lexi, and Cora’s typing away at the info board. Peebee thinks that Cora's probably writing out a new ‘no fun allowed’ memo just as Scott walks in, and there’s something suspicious in the way that he glances at her before approaching Cora.

Her suspicions are confirmed when Scott moves to stand right behind her, slipping his arms around her waist and leaning in close to press a kiss to her cheek. “Hey there, angel face.”

Peebee blinks. _Since when did he call her crap like angel face?_ She narrows her eyes, gaze shifting away from Scott and over to Cora. _And since when did Cora get so into PDA?_

She half-expects Cora to just shrug him off and scold him for it but then she leans back into his embrace with a warm smile.

“Hey yourself, stud muffin.”

..Wait a minute. She knows what’s going on here! Scott must've run his stupid mouth to Cora and now he was trying to prove a stupid point about their stupid nicknames!

Peebee sits up, giving Scott an accusing stare but when he finally looks over at her he just smiles and nuzzles his face into the back of Cora’s head. Jaal glances up briefly but doesn’t even bat an eye at what he sees before his attention is back on the novel, while Peebee just gapes at the pair of them.

“You’re both nauseating,” she mumbles, rolling out of bed and making a break for the door, but as it slides shut behind her she hears Scott and Cora’s muffled laughter.

Ugh.. couples. She just hopes they get it out of their system before the next day shift.

~~~.~~~

They don't get it out of their system before the next day shift, but that's probably intentional.

Peebee can deal with most of the nicknames Scott and Cora throw at each other all afternoon. Babe, sunshine, loverboy, princess, and pumpkin are mostly bearable. Annoying, but bearable.

But then they start venturing into the stranger ones. Sugar cookie. Cuddle bear. Sweet pea. Hot stuff. Snuggie Woogems.

They’re weird and they’re obnoxious and what in the actual hell was a ‘bangin’ blonde bombshell’ and how was Scott calling Cora that supposed to be affectionate?

She’s in the third round of poker with Gil and Vetra when she hears the door to the lower decks of the cargo bay slide open, and the familiar sound of Scott greeting Cora sends a shiver up Peebee's spine.

Not again..

“Here’s that hot patch gun you needed, my darling baby doll,” Scott says in a near sing-song voice, being intentionally loud enough for them to hear, and Peebee heaves out a heavy sigh. Vetra just smiles to herself like the traitor she is, and Gil rolls his eyes, shuffling his cards in his hands.

“Thank you, my sweet snookums,” Cora replies just as loud, and Peebee thinks to herself that Cora should be ashamed for stooping down to their level. She never thought she’d miss the strict, stick-up-her-ass Cora..

“Hope you realize that you started this, Peebs,” Gil mutters before throwing his straight flush down onto the table, and Peebee drops her head down onto the table with a loud groan.

~~~.~~~

The next day shift starts.

She’s been staring at Cora for the past two minutes, but the other woman either doesn’t notice, probably too engrossed in her boring report, or just doesn’t care because she hasn’t raised her head at all except to sip at her coffee, and not once has she looked at Peebee since she came into the galley.

Peebee frowns because the silence irritates her, and she finally opens her mouth to speak but stops herself when the door suddenly slides open and Scott steps into the room.

Peebee tries not to cringe as Cora finally looks up, her eyes meeting Scott’s, and Peebee’s sure that she’d just lost her chance to escape.

“Morning, Scott,” Cora greets, sipping from her mug again as she looks back at the data pad. Scott blinks down at her sleepily before he smiles.

“Hey, Cora,” he replies, leaning down to kiss the top of her head before making his way over to the coffee pot.

Peebee frowns again, narrowing her eyes as she looks back and forth between them until Scott finally turns back around with his coffee in hand, and he raises an eyebrow when he sees Peebee staring at him. “What?”

“I don’t trust this,” Peebee replies promptly, still shooting the two of them suspicious stares. “What happened to all that gross pet name stuff?” She glances over at Cora, and immediately notices that Cora is pointedly avoiding both of their gazes and.. was she blushing?

“Oh, that,” Scott replies, and when Peebee looks at him his ears are slowly turning red as he drops down into the empty seat beside Cora. “Uh, I may or may not gotten carried away and called Cora my 'sugar-caked honey biscuit’ last night.. in bed.”

They hear Liam burst into laughter from the hallway just before Peebee joins him, laughing so hard that her shoulders are shaking, and Scott can only shrug helplessly as Cora gives him a hard stare.

Okay, _that_ was totally worth it.

~~~~~.~~~~~

 


	3. Patching each other up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '3. Patching each other up.'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning: None.

~~~~~.~~~~~

Cora had to admit, sometimes she wished their lives were as glamorous as the vids made them look.

Most of the days were easier, now that the Archon was out of the way, but his defeat didn't entirely clear our the kett presence in the cluster, not to mention the outlaws that still had a foothold on Kadara and showed no willingness to negotiate a peace treaty, and of course the Roekarr were still a threat on nearly every planet, even after everything Scott had done, and the Moshae was having little success in convincing them that the Milky Way species were allies. Some fanatics just couldn’t be swayed, apparently.

So, there were still battles to be fought by the Pathfinder team, and that aspect of their lives was being made public now.

It had been odd the first time they went back to the Nexus and saw the finished commercials about being on a Pathfinder team, even though it wasn’t just them out there now. Raeka, Avitus, and Sarrisa all had their own teams and commercials too, but of course the most popular ones were about Pathfinder Ryder and the crew of the Tempest.

Part of Cora still can’t believe that Scott had even agreed to it in the first place, but Tann had finally won him over by pointing out how much it would boost morale for the settlers, seeing vids of their brave heroes continuing to fight the good fight as Andromeda slowly but surely felt more like home. Cora herself had only watched their commercial once but, again, she wished their battles were even half as glamorous and easy as they appeared.

The real battles they fought were exhausting and risky, and sometimes they walked away with only a few scrapes but other times they had to limp back to the Nomad, cradling broken limbs and trying not to bleed everywhere while waiting for an application of medi-gel.

Today was one of the latter days, thanks to an attempted ambush by some Roekarr, and now that the fight was over Cora and Scott were stuck sitting and waiting for Liam to return with the Nomad.

Well, she was sitting and waiting, but Scott..

“Fuck!” Scott snaps before he drops back down onto the overturned crate he’d just been sitting on, leaning back to take as much weight as he could off of his right leg. “Okay, yeah, that’s definitely sprained..”

“Told you,” Cora huffs back at him, trying not to roll her eyes because she’d _just_ told him that his ankle was probably sprained after he’d been knocked off the roof of the prefab, but Scott could be surprisingly stubborn when he was in pain. He hisses again as she props his foot up onto a smaller crate, but the tension in his brow lessens as soon as she places the pack of cooling gel against his heated skin. “Better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Scott replies, flexing his foot a little and wincing from both the pain and the glare that Cora gives him. “What? Just making sure it’s not broken..” he mutters almost sheepishly before he looks at the scrape on Cora’s left shoulder, gesturing to it with a nod of his head. “What about that?”

“Just a graze, not even bad enough to need medi-gel,” Cora tells him, which was true. The bullet had cut into the skin but it wasn’t really bleeding anymore, though it did sting like hell. Scott’s the one to frown this time, and he moves to sit up as best he can without jostling his leg too much.

“You can’t neglect your own injuries and then scold me,” Scott says, pulling the med kit away from Cora and closer to himself. “C’mere. Pathfinder’s orders.” he adds when it looks like Cora’s going to protest, but she just moves to sit beside him, giving him access to the injured shoulder with a soft sigh.

“Think we’ll ever be done with this?” Cora asks him, inhaling sharply when Scott sprays her shoulder with a bottle of disinfectant, and he gives her an apologetic smile before rifling through the kit for a gauze pad.

“Maybe someday,” Scott replies after a few beats of silence, pressing the pad down as firmly as he can onto the scrape without irritating it too much, and he holds it into place as he searches for the medical tape with his free hand. “Still trying to convince Tann to give the other teams more responsibilities so we’re not the only ones putting the fires out.”

He smoothes the tape down before giving Cora’s back a light pat, and she starts to stand up just as Scott suddenly grabs her wrist, gently pulling her back down to sit. “Almost forgot,” he says, leaning over and giving her bandaged shoulder a soft kiss before he draws his head back with a smile. “There. All better.”

“My hero,” Cora praises, and he slips his arm around her waist, pulling her as close to him as he can without aggravating any of their injuries, and the two of them enjoy the moment of peace and quiet as they await the Nomad’s return.

~~~~~.~~~~~

 


	4. Hospital visits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '4. Hospital visits .'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning: None.

~~~~~.~~~~~

“Y’know Cora, I’m starting to think Lexi and Harry are just conspiring against me at this point,” Scott grumbles from the hospital bed he was currently lying on, and Cora looks up from her half-read e-mails to look her boyfriend. She snorts quietly when she sees the pout on his face, and that only causes Scott's frown to deepen as he glances over at her. “I’m serious, it's gotta some kind of revenge conspiracy. They’re working in tandem to keep me constantly stuck in a hospital bed.”

“Well you’re technically the one who keeps landing himself in the hospital. They’re just the ones that are stuck here patching you up.” Cora replies, and Scott raises his head up long enough to shoot her a wounded look.

“So they’ve turned you against me too?” Scott huffs, shaking his head before dropping back onto the pillow, though Cora can clearly see him trying to hold back a smile. “That cuts deep, Cora.. Here I always thought Liam would be the first to mutiny against me.”

“Really, Scott?” Cora asks, raising an eyebrow as she gives him a long look. “You thought that of everyone on the crew - the crew that includes Drack and Peebee, by the way - that  _Liam_ would be the first to turn on you in the case of a mutiny?”

“Yeah.. But that’s mostly because I ate the last bowl of Blast-Ohs that he had dibs on and he swore to get ‘sudden and satisfying revenge’,” Scott replies in a rather poor imitation of Liam's accent, and Cora has to resist rolling her eyes at the drama of it all. “I mean, what better time to get to me than now, when I’m laid out in the hospital with a second-in-command whose siding with my doctors?”

“You’re not even hurt right now, Scott. You’re not even technically checked _into_ the hospital,” Cora reminds him, actually rolling her eyes this time and Scott pouts again. “As soon as Harry gets the test results back he’ll just tell you to take it easy, which we all know you'll ignore, and then send you on your way, same as always.”

At least she really hopes it’ll be the same as always.

It's nearly been two month since they fought and defeated the Archon but ever since that battle on Meridian Scott had just been a little.. off. A little more sluggish with his movements in a battle, and a little more hesitant when it came to using the Remnant. It wasn’t enough for the others to really notice it but Cora had noticed it, and she’s pretty sure that Sara had noticed it as well, even though Scott's sister had only been on the Tempest for a couple weeks now.

Overall, the changes in Scott since the fight weren’t really a surprise to Cora, considering how much that fight had strained both of the Ryder twins, but no matter how subtle and temporary those changes in Scott were it didn’t stop her from worrying about him, and the weekly hospital visits were for both his physical well-being and her mental one.

“If you say so,” Scott mutters, breaking her from her thoughts, and he leans back in the bed to stare up at the ceiling for a long moment before he looks back at her. He smiles when their gazes meet, and he reaches over to grasp her hand. “And I don't know about you but I've had my share of hospitals for the day. After we’re done here we should head over to the shops for some down time, just me and you.”

“Sounds great, sweetheart,” Cora replies with a smile of her own, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze, and both of them look towards the door as Dr. Carlyle comes in with Scott’s test results. Scott sits up, greeting Harry as he does, though he keeps his old on Cora's hand. Harry, meanwhile, returns the greeting casually and doesn’t look like he’s coming in with bad news so Cora lets herself relax a little.

She was still worried about Scott, she’d always be worried about him at least a little, but for now at least there was nothing to worry about and lose sleep over. Besides, Scott was right; they had an entire afternoon to enjoy to themselves and Cora wouldn’t let any maybes and what-ifs take a minute of it away from her.

~~~~~.~~~~~


	5. Scar worship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '5. Scar worship.'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning(s): Very mild descriptions of injury.

~~~~~.~~~~~

“I'm just saying, I probably wouldn’t mind so much if it had been something fierce, like an Adhi or a Challyrion,” Scott says as Cora examines the long, half-healed laceration between his shoulder blades, able to look at it properly  now that they were back on the Tempest and in the privacy of his quarters. “But seriously, a _Kaerkyn_?!”

“You know their claws are almost a foot long, right?” Cora asks as she gently dabs the medi-gel that Lexi had given her against the wound now that it was no longer bleeding, and Scott stiffens a little under her touch but he doesn’t make any noises of discomfort this time, probably thanks to the medi-gel numbing out any lingering pain. “Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if you just wore your armor.”

“We were only going to be on the ground for like, ten minutes! No kett, no Roekarr, and no bandits, so I didn’t think I’d _need_ any armor..” Scott argues, and at this point Cora’s sure that his pride was hurt more than anything. No one else had been jumped and wounded by a giant bug, after all. “But Cora, if anyone happens to ask about this, you tell them I was fighting off a bunch of Roekarr and one knifed me from behind! I already made Jaal promise to do the same thing."

“Anything for you, darling,” Cora promises, mostly sincere but still teasing him just a little, but it seems to be enough to satisfy Scott, and he sighs deeply through his nose as Cora dabs the rest of the medi-gel onto the gash the Kaerkyn had left behind before she wipes off the excess gel and applies a fresh bandage to the injury. She has no doubts that actually would leave a scar behind, but at least now it wouldn’t get infected.

Scott just makes a non-committal noise in reply to her promise, and Cora watches him for a moment before she leans forward, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder while being mindful of the wound, though by now it shouldn't hurt anymore. Scott instantly relaxes under her touch, tilting his head back to rest it against hers.

“If it makes you feel better it looks pretty cool, at least as far as scars go.” Cora says after a few beats of silence, and Scott glances back at her over his shoulder. “I once met a guy who thought that ladies loved cool scars. He even seemed pretty convinced that getting some would’ve given him a ‘hot, bad boy persona’.”

“Yeah?” Scott asks, though he grins knowingly as Cora draws back from the embrace. “Sounds to me like a pretty smart and awesome guy. So was he handsome? Did you have an immediate crush on him?”

Cora bites back a grin, trying to look as nonchalant as she can as her hand gently smooths down his fresh bandages, and when she notices that Scott was still looking at her expectantly she just shrugs. “He was okay.”

“ _Okay_?” Scott repeats, his nose wrinkling in disapproval, and Cora laughs softly before pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder, and Scott's mock glare softens before he suddenly leans back into her arms, giving her barely enough time to catch him without hitting his injuries, though she does give his shoulder a halfhearted swat. “Well, whoever this handsome, intelligent stranger was, I’m glad he’s gone. I'd hate to have to fight someone for you.”

“I don’t know, I think you would’ve liked him,” Cora replies, leaning back against the headboard behind her and Scott moves back with her, resting his head against her chest. “You’ve both got dazzling smiles, beautiful eyes, and you laugh at the same kind of dumb jokes.”

“Hey now, my sense of humor is top quality!” Scott says, grinning to himself when Cora just laughs. “See? As long as I can make you smile I’m not changing anything.”

“Good, because I’d never want you to,” Cora replies quietly, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Scott’s head before she rests her cheek against it, her arms wrapping around his upper body, and Scott reaches up to set a hand against hers.

For a few moments there’s silence, the both of them just enjoying the warmth of the embrace before Scott starts to stir, and Cora sits up as he tilts his head back to look up at her.

“Hey, you should tell me about some of yours,” Scott says, and he grins when she just raises an eyebrow. “C’mon, with all those stories of you being a bad ass commando, you’ve gotta have some scars to go with them!”

“All right, fine,” Cora agrees, smiling softly as she sits up further and pulls back the right sleeve of her shirt to show him a long, thin scar along the side of her wrist. “This one doesn’t look like much but I got it on my first mission, which was supposed to be recon only before the krogan mercenaries showed up.”

“Krogan mercenaries?” Scott repeats, grinning again as he gently grasps her wrist to trace his thumb over the scar. “This is gonna be good!”

~~~~~.~~~~~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't read it, their conversation is a reference to the 2nd chapter of my original Coryder drabble collection~


	6. Making fun of one another.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '6. Making fun of one another."  
> Rating: G  
> Warning(s): None.

~~~~~.~~~~~

“Why are we doing this again?” Scott asks as he swipes through the gallery various photos he had saved onto his omni-tool, and beside him Cora is doing the same, though she’s noticeably taking more time to look at the individual pictures before moving on to the next.

“It was Addison’s idea,” Cora replies, and that response alone makes Scott wrinkle his nose. “Another one of the Nexus' ideas to boost morale. Something about letting the settlers see the Pathfinder teams as people and not just symbols.”

“They can’t get some pictures from Raeka instead? She’s got her team up and running now..” Scott grumbles, though even as he says it he selects a couple of group shots of their team to attach to Cora’s e-mail, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“She probably will, but right now you’re the one in the spotlight and this is the team everyone wants to see,” Cora replies patiently, examining two different pictures of Drack and Lexi chatting together before selecting her favorite of the pair. “Besides, everyone on the team but Peebee has already agreed to do this so let's just get it over with.”

“Wait, no Peebee at all?” Scott asks, his brow furrowing as he clearly thinks about having to go back to edit his photo selections.

“Group shots are okay, but none with her by herself or with just one other person, and no pictures of Poc at all,” Cora answers, nearly rolling her eyes. Peebee had been stubborn with her instructions but it least she had compromised at all, and most days it was just easier to give their asari companion what she wanted.

“Gotcha..” Scott replies, and from the corner of her eye Cora sees him swipe through a few more pictures before he suddenly grins and holds his arm out so she could see the display of his omni-tool. “How about this one, Cora?”

Cora looks over, opening her mouth to approve of whichever photo it was that Scott thought deserved her attention, but she shuts her mouth as soon as she sees that it was a picture of herself from a mission on Elaaden, chest-deep in a pit of quicksand and glaring at the camera (or rather at Scott, who had been the one taking the picture while Drack just laughed in the background). In hindsight it was a little funny, since it hadn’t actually been quicksand as they knew it on Earth and the pit had only been a few feet deep, but it really hadn’t been funny at the time.

“Why do you still have that one?” Cora asks with a frown, reaching over towards his omni-tool to dispose of the picture but Scott turns his body away from her, laughing as he moves his arm out of her reach. “Stop laughing and delete it!”

“I’m not deleting this, it’s one of my favorites!” Scott replies after his laughing subsides, though he does hold a hand up to placate her when she just glares at him again. “But I won’t let anyone else see it, I promise. Pathfinder's honor.”

“Ass,” Cora mumbles, giving up and turning back towards her own omni-tool, though her annoyance fades when Scott leans over to press a kiss to her cheek, and they exchange quick smiles before each goes back to filtering their own photos. A few minutes pass in relative silence, with each of them occasionally getting approval from the other about a picture or two, before Cora comes across a quick series of photos that make her smile.

Now _that_ had been an interesting day.. They’d been traveling through one of Havarl’s more dense jungles when the ground team had come across a planet that, to Cora, looked like a horrifically oversized Venus flytrap. She’d intended to just move on and keep mapping the area but Scott and Liam had immediately run over to the massive plant, both of them calling it ‘Audrey the Third’ in near-unison, clearly in reference to something that was lost on Cora.

They also both ignored her when she advised that they stay away from it, and of course most of the next hour was spent trying to get Scott out of the plant’s ‘mouth’ after it snatched him up, and _maybe_ Cora had snapped a few pictures of her struggling boyfriend once she was certain that he was just stuck and not in any actually danger.

“This is a great one,” Cora remarks casually after pulling up her favorite image from the set, which was a shot of Scott’s lower half sticking out of plant’s mouth, his legs blurred because he'd been mid-flail, with her and Liam at the bottom of the screen and smiling at the camera in a classic selfie-style. Scott glances over to see and instantly frowns.

“No.” He says promptly, shaking his head as soon as he realizes what he was looking at, and he looks so serious about it that it’s a struggle for Cora not to smile. “If I can’t use the quicksand one then you can't use that one.”

“Oh, I see,” Cora replies, pretending to be put-out by his rejection of the picture, though it’s clear that Scott isn’t fooled by it for a second. “So _you_ can laugh and threaten to make my misfortunes public but I can’t do the same?”

“You just stepped in a puddle of squishy sand. I was being deep throated by a semi-sentient plant!”

“Scott, that is the _worst_ possible way to describe that!” Cora manages to say through her laughter, as Scott reaches over to swipe to the next picture on her omni-tool, but by the time he draws his hand back he’s grinning too. “So, should we just agree that any pictures that could damage our egos are off the table?”

“Yeah, but maybe only individual pictures,” Scott replies, smiling as he looks over at her. “If we both look like dorks then that could be a great public image for us.”

“Is that right?”

“Of course.” Scott turns towards her, waving a hand at her for dramatic flair. “Just picture that headline: ‘Ridiculously handsome Pathfinder shares his life with a super powerful commando, kicking ass and taking names but it turns out both of them are just a pair of dorks’!”

“That’s way too long for a headline.” Cora huffs, but she’s beaming as she looks away from him, and Scott must see it because he’s grinning at her again as he leans over, laying his head against her shoulder.

“Fine, then how about ‘Local fool falls in love’?” Scott suggests quietly as Cora turns her head to face him, and for a moment they both just look at each other before leaning into a soft kiss.

“That works,” Cora replies, smiling as Scott’s head returns to resting against her shoulder, their pictures momentarily forgotten. “But which of us is the local fool?”

“Hey, that’s for the readers to decide.”

~~~~~.~~~~~

 


	7. A death of someone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '7. A death of someone.'  
> Rating: T  
> Warning(s): Mentions of death and implied internalized homophobia. Also not really a ‘warning’ per say, but this chapter does explore my Scott’s bisexuality a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original prompt was technically ‘A death of someone close’ but I didn’t want to actually ‘kill’ anyone close to them off for it and there are already several nice ficlets around of Scott and Cora interacting after Ellen’s death, so I tweaked the prompt a bit~

~~~~~.~~~~~

Scott Ryder feels a lot of things after they've recover the turian Ark. He feels relief, mostly, but also some frustration over the loss of turian lives that they hadn’t been able to prevent, even though they'd saved many more than they'd lost. There’s also regret over the loss of the original turian Pathfinder, and of course some fresh anger towards the kett, but that wasn’t really new, just another bullet on his long list of reasons to hate those bone-faced bastards.

But more than anything else, he feels sympathy for Avitus and what he was now going through.

_“This thing’s still busted, it doesn’t know what it’s talking about.”_

He doesn’t say anything about it at the time because he doesn’t want Avitus to have to hear it from more than one source, but Scott had been certain that Macen was dead long before they’d found the Ark - damn those gut feelings of his sometimes - and this counterpart of SAM’s just confirms what he'd already known.

But Avitus denies it even after he hears it, and he continues to deny it throughout most of the mission, not that Scott’s surprised.

_“He’s the only one who calls me that.”_

Despite what some others might have thought about him, Scott was no fool, and now that he had it in his own life he recognized love when he heard it. At first he doesn’t really know what to do about it. It wasn't said out loud but anyone but he still knew that Avitus’ bond with Macen had been a romantic one, but honestly Scott didn’t know turian society well enough to know if asking was appropriate, even if it was only to give his condolences, and he’d actually  _dated_ a turian when he was younger.

Although, Scott’s relationship with Venrus might not have been the best example, and in hindsight ‘dating’ was probably a generous term. They’d spent a few long months together and Venrus had seemed to enjoy it as much as Scott did, but they only ever saw each other in the privacy of their own homes or, more rarely, in very secluded spots on the Citadel. Scott had accepted it at the time because he was happy with Venrus, or at least he _thought_ he was happy, but staying happy while also feeling like someone's shameful little secret was difficult, especially for a seventeen-year-old.

Scott endured it anyway because he was so sure that he was in love, and everything between them was great up until he actually said the 'L' word out loud it one evening. It had just slipped out during their post-sex haze before Scott could catch himself but Venrus definitely hadn’t said it back, and had all but bolted from the room, ignoring the questions and promising to call as he hastily gathered up his clothes.

Venrus doesn’t call until a week later, and it’s only to let Scott know that he was heading back to Palaven to resume his military training and that it would be best if they both moved on and saw other people. It was Scott’s first real heartbreak and yeah, it had hurt like hell, but Sara and his mother were both there to support him afterwards, and eventually, like Venrus suggest, Scott had moved on.

So yeah, maybe Venrus had reacted the way he did because that was how turian society viewed two men being together, or maybe it was just because of some personal hang-ups that he had, but either way Avitus' love for Macen is made clear in every way but a verbal one. Scott could only imagine what Avitus goes through as he finally started to accept Macen’s demise, and the only thing he can really do is encourage the turian to honor Macen’s last wishes and take over as the Pathfinder for his people.

Avitus agrees, but Scott knows it must break his heart to do it. Maybe a Pathfinder falling in love with their successor was a cruel twist of fate just waiting to happen, but it still hadn’t stopped Scott or Macen from doing so. Director Tann had already spoken to him about making a memorial for Alec so maybe he should talk to Avitus soon, seen how he felt about a memorial for Macen going up as well..

Once the mission is done and the reports to Tann are dealt with, Scott is left alone with his thoughts, and soon he wonders if Cora had ever gone through the same thing Avitus had. Not the loss of a lover, obviously, but Avitus had been so insistent that Macen was still alive because their SAM hadn’t transferred to him yet.

So now he was wondering, was that a source of terror or comfort that Cora lived with as his second-in-command? Did she ever throw herself into her work whenever she stayed behind on a mission, focusing on the job but still being scared that at any second SAM would enter her head, telling her that Pathfinder authority was being transferred to her? Or if something happened to him and the transfer was corrupted, would she be the one out there, searching for him and insisting to everyone that he was alive only because there was no direct connection to SAM in her head, like Avitus had?

The thought of her having to endure such a thing makes Scott's stomach churn uncomfortably, and once he’s back on the Tempest he wastes no time in seeking her out. He finds her in the bio lab, gently tending to the latest batch of plants coming in, though she glances towards the door when she hears it slide open and the smile she gives him is more comforting at that moment than he expects.

“Hey you,” Cora greets as he strides towards her, though she’s definitely startled when he suddenly wraps his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. But her surprise lasts for only a moment before she’s reaching up to return his hug. He feels one of her hands gently tracing along his shoulders, a gesture she usually did to comfort him, and Scott sighs as he buries his face into the crook of her neck. “Scott.. You okay?”

“I love you,” Scott says in lieu of an answer, and Cora lets the hug last a moment longer before she draws back. She doesn’t move away from him entirely, but the look she gives him is one of obvious concern, and Scott’s frown mirrors her own. “I just.. After seeing everything that happen to Avitus and Macen.. I wanted to tell you that.”

Cora’s frown doesn’t fade but her expression does soften a little. While she hadn’t gone on that particular mission she’d definitely read the reports, and Scott had no doubts that she could sympathize with Avitus even more than he could. They’d both taken the risk of falling in love with a Pathfinder, but in the end Avitus’ risk hadn’t paid off.

“I love you too, Scott,” she finally replies, reaching up to cup his face with one hand and Scott closes his eyes as he leans heavily into the touch, setting a hand on top of hers with another sigh. He doesn’t say anything else and neither does Cora but having her right in front of him is enough, at least for the moment.

Still, he feels another pang in his chest when he thinks that Avitus, and how a simple moment like this one is something that the new turian Pathfinder might not have again for a long time.

~~~~~.~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably not the last you'll see of Venrus. I've also used him in a different, unposted drabble and got more attached to him than I probably should have.


	8. Sleeping in.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '8. Sleeping in."  
> Rating: G  
> Warning(s): None.

~~~~~.~~~~~

It feels like it’s been years since Cora actually slept in. Which is fitting, really, because it has been.

Getting up early is just second nature to her by now; she’d done it during her time with the Alliance, she did it when she was with her commando squad, and she was always up bright and early during her time training under Alec Ryder. It was a lifelong habit she just hadn’t broken since waking up in Andromeda.

Well, she hadn’t broken it before getting into a relationship with Scott, at least.

Cora enjoys a good night’s rest as much as anyone else does but odd as it sounded, lounging around just wasn’t something she normally did. But Scott loved it, that night owl, and he leaped at any opportunity he had to stay in bed with Cora, whether it was just for a few minutes or for several hours.

It had been a little strange for her at first, with Cora unable to shake off the old feeling that she was laying there and wasting time, but then she starts thinking of it as her spending precious time with the man that she loved, and finally the old habit starts to break without a lingering sense of guilt. She still usually wakes up hours before Scott does but instead of trying to slip out of bed and start on her work without disturbing him she just lays there, resting her eyes as she waits for Scott to wake up or carefully rolling over to read through the morning reports while remaining wrapped up in his embrace.

Scott, meanwhile, seems to delight every time he wakes up to see that she was still there with him, and that just makes it even more worth it to her.

The time slowly passes, and soon Cora finds herself sleeping just a little longer whenever she's surrounded by the warmth of the bed and her lover, and instead of waking up hours before him now she’ll wake up just a few minutes before he does or, occasionally, he’ll be the one wake up before she does and when that happens her often rouses her from her sleep with gentle touches and soft kisses.

Today is one of those days, and the gentle press of Scott’s lips against her bare shoulder is what finally pulls Cora from her slumber. She keeps her eyes shut but lets out a soft, pleased hum as Scott slowly trails his kisses along her shoulder and up towards the length her neck, and she squirms only when the brush of his rough morning stubble tickles her.

She takes a moment to stretch her body out before rolling over to face the man behind her and Scott’s arm immediately slips around her waist, pulling her close, and Cora smiles as she feels herself being enveloped by his warm embrace.

“G'morning..” Scott mumbles close to her ear and Cora just hums again as she shifts closer, nuzzling her face against his neck and she can see Scott’s lazy smile in her mind’s eye. He settles his hand low on her hip, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth against the smooth skin while his other arm is tucked beneath her head, serving as a pillow.

He certainly seems to be in no rush to move, not that he's even been one to squander a moment's rest, and to Cora's delight there’s no sudden chiming from SAM about them being late for the day shift either, and soon she feels Scott snuggle his head down into his pillow again, his breathing already starting to slow down again as he began to doze.

It's moments later that Cora feels herself starting to fall back asleep as well, so scoots herself a little closer to Scott until her body is pressed up close to his, and she hears him let out a low, happy hum of his own as she tucks an arm between them and breaths in his scent.

A small part of her thinks she should get up soon but for the moment she just ignores that familiar, niggling habit. They had no pressing missions and no immediate concerns that needed to be dealt with, so surely the galaxy could go on without the human Pathfinder and his Lieutenant for a little while longer.

This moment right now, sharing a comfortable bed with the love of your life, was all theirs, and there wasn’t a thing in his world that could take it from them right now.

~~~~~.~~~~~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catching up on these, slowly but surely~


	9. Hugging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: '9. Hugging.'  
> Rating: G  
> Warning: None.
> 
> This turned into cuddling more than hugging, with just a touch of hurt/comfort thrown in cause that's just how I roll.

~~~~~.~~~~~

It shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone to learn that Scott Ryder, who was already a very tactile person when in a normal state of mind, acted downright cuddly whenever he became tired enough.

He and the majority of his squad mates had been awake for nearly 28 hours now, having flown the team out to Voeld to help the Angara there fight off a sudden attack from the remains of the Kett troops stationed near the resistance base. They’d already taken out most of the Kett outposts already but, as Drack had suggested, the most recent attack had probably the Kett’s attempt to make a last stand before their presence on the icy planet was completely eradicated.

They had thought that it would be a pretty standard battle for them; wipe out a few enemy platoons, cheer each other on, exchange a few friendly drinks with the Angara afterwards and then call it a night, but the Kett had come at them that day with numbers and a ferocity they hadn’t fully expected. Between the Pathfinder’s squad and the Angaran forces they finally emerged victorious after an entire day and night of fighting, but not without suffering quite a few casualties on their side, and as always, Scott was clearly feeling the weight of those losses as heavily as he felt his own exhaustion.

Cora doesn’t like it, the way he carried so many deaths with him and then tried to cover up that pain with an easy smile, but unfortunately was just one of Scott's flaws that they couldn’t change. They could only try to support and reassure him as he processed and came to terms with his grief at his own pace, but at least he always came out of it a little more determined to do better next time. She’s been proud of Scott and his personal accomplishments for a while now, but Cora’s always admired his sense of determination in particular.

But now that the fight was finally over and they'd retrieved all the wounded and dead Angara from the battle field, everyone was running on fumes. The Resistance had even brought in a shuttle of off-world citizens to temporarily take over the duties of the Voeld settlers while they got some well-deserved rest, and Scott hadn’t even bothered to give Kallo a specific destination when they all trudged back onto the Tempest.

Liam and Peebee were out like lights within a minute of getting back onto the ship, and Cora’s only a little surprise to notice that they had actually flopped themselves down into the same bottom bunk together, apparently too tired to even bother seeking out separate beds.

Drack had settled himself at his usual spot in the galley and dozed off within seconds of sitting down. His loud snores were nearly rattling the cabinets, Vetra had remarked as she sat herself in one of the lounge chairs in the crew quarters just to ‘get off her feet for a damn second’. She'd fallen asleep before Cora had even left the room, her mandibles occasionally twitching between her slow, rasping snores.

Jaal had gone to Lexi right after the fight to get an assessment about a cramp that had flared up in his left wrist near the end of the battle and had evidently fallen asleep while Lexi was doing the scans. As far as Cora knew he was still there, snoozing away in the lab while their doctor just continued to work around him as quietly as she could.

Cora, meanwhile, had followed Scott to his quarters and they’d been lying in bed for a short while now, both of them so tired but for whatever reason still unable to sleep. Eventually, Scott had grown bored of just staring up at the ceiling while sleep eluded them and had rolled over, wrapping his arms around Cora and pulling her in close to snuggle with him.

Part of her resents the fact that her mind is keeping her awake, even in its sluggish, sleep-deprived state, but at the same time it’s nice to have a quiet moment like this with Scott. She'd learned that he was a cuddler at the start of their physical relationship, especially when they were lounging in bed together, and Cora smiles softly as he wraps his arms around her, nuzzling their heads together as she scoots herself closer to him.

“So tired..” Scott mumbles against her hair, his eyes still shut, and Cora hums softly in agreement as she rests her head against his shoulder, starting to lose herself in the warmth and comfort of Scott’s embrace. “Can SAM raise my melatonin levels or something to knock me out?”

“Probably,” Cora answers quietly, since said A.I. was currently on emergency-only-standby-mode and was thus unable to confirm or deny Scott's verbal question. “But you could probably fall asleep faster if you just tried to relax and stopped thinking about the fight.”

“You can’t sleep either so that means you’re doing the same thing.” Scott says before pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. “Hypocrite.”

“Maybe I’m actually still awake because I’m worrying about you,” Cora counters honestly, draping one of her arms over Scott’s waist. She feels him lean into her a little more, but she doesn't miss the tell-tale frown now on his face. “Look, Scott.. I know from experience with my old Commando unit that dwelling on a battle afterwards can be a pretty hard habit to break. It's tough and it took some time, but with my unit's help I managed to break myself of it eventually. As a soldier, you can't stress over every ‘what-if’ with the things that you can't change."

“Sure I can.. I can be pretty stubborn when I want to be.” Scott replies, though his tone falls just a little short of the humorous one that he’d obviously been going for, and he lets out a soft sigh before Cora can speak again. “I know, Cora, I’m just.. I'm still getting used to having people live and die as a result of my decisions. It’s.. It's just not something I prepared myself for when coming to Andromeda, cause I never really thought I'd be a link in the chain of command, you know?"

“I doubt that anyone can ever really prepare themselves for it until they're in the actual situation,” Cora reassures him, lifting her head up enough to press a soft kiss to his lips. “At most they just get better than others at hiding how they deal with it. I know that even your father felt the same way at times, though that prickly bastard would never admit it out loud.”

She pauses briefly when Scott doesn't answer right away. Bringing up Alec is always a hit-or-miss risk with Scott but this time the comment about his father's brief evidences of humanity does at least make him smile, and the tension in his brow lessens a little.

“You got that right..” Scott finally says before he lets out another soft sigh, “But if I can compliment Alec about anything it’s that he never let most of this sort of stuff keep him up at night. He just.. accepted it and moved on. Sara's pretty much the same way in a crisis, so she's definitely the only one of us that picked that trait up from him."

“Well, it’s not a bad thing to process things differently than they do,” Cora replies, her eyes suddenly twinkling in a teasing way as she looks at Scott. “Even if it does sometimes mess with your schedule and keep you from the sleep that you love so much.”

“I  _do_  love sleeping,” Scott agrees with a grin, and Cora’s soft laughter is muffled by his chest as he hugs her close to him, both of them snuggling down more comfortably into the bed, and Cora feels another soft kiss being pressed to her forehead a moment later. “But if staying up means having little moments like this with you, then I guess I can live with it.”

“You and me both, Scott,” Cora replies, and Scott stills beside her, his body relaxing more and his breathing slowing while he finally starts to doze off, and Cora’s nearly asleep herself by the time he speaks again.

“Hey, Cora..?” Scott starts, voice low in case she was already asleep, and he nestles his head against hers after she acknowledges him with a soft hum. “I just.. wanted to say thanks, for putting up with me when I get like this. Nice to know I’ve got you to always pick me up when I'm down..”

“Loving and supporting someone isn’t the same as ‘putting up’ with them, you know,” Cora answers gently, kissing the side of Scott’s neck before she starts to drift away again. “But you’re welcome, sweetheart..”

~~~~~.~~~~~

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this months ago so I'mma just post them as they're finished instead of waiting for the corresponding 'date' for each number.


End file.
